Words from the pulpit of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Palm Beaches, and other significant messages.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Ignite the Flame of Empathy

I'm
burned up about the state of our state, our nation and our planet.

I’m
burned out as an activist because I don't seem to have the power to
change it.

“What
is wrong with our leaders? Why don't they care? What is missing that
they can be bought by the highest bidder, and lose their humanity?"

In
2006, when I wrote the Chalice Reading that I read earlier, I was in
a more idealistic place. Back then, I had faith in UU's spiritual
consciousness to lead.

The
Great Turning.
That's the book with the same title that UU’s read and discussed in
our social action workshops. David Korten inspired us to develop
Earth Community to turn our government away from corporate domination
for wealth and world power to cooperation and partnership with the
people.

I
recognize significant gains over the past 8 years — more
activists, and more progressive organizations speaking truth to
power. UUs have become national leaders:

1. Congregation-based
Community Organizations like P.E.A.C.E. have become recognized as a
force for social justice all over the country

2. UUA adopted Move to Amend as an issue of immediate witness

3. UU
FL Legislative Justice is organizing state-wide

But,
things haven’t changed much. In fact, things are much worse!

1. Our
voices fall on deaf ears. They are drowned out by the Old Boy network
at Tea Parties.

2.Officials
are blind to the pain of the poor, and they don't even mention them
anymore. (If you don't say homeless, it doesn't exist).

3. I
became one of the "less fortunate" by functioning as a
default safety net for my family. I now know the desperation of
austerity firsthand.

4.Survival
of the fittest mentality rules and the people lose. There's a lack of
empathy: concern for others and the common good. There's failure to
live by the Golden Rule.

5. Macho politicians,
like adolescent bullies, exalt their virility by scoffing at empathy.
They can’t believe that austerity kills, that they might be
vulnerable someday. They act as if only the lazy become sick,
disabled, old, or destitute.

6. They "man
up," cut social programs and ridicule people served by them as
weak "takers", needing a "nanny state."

7. We
reap what we sow; austerity breeds deprivation and anger. Starving
people grab the bread first and run with it. They learn survival, not
care about others.

8.Empathy is equated
with feminine softness and surrender. Many men hate that in
themselves –- it might mean they are gay. Women too –- it leads
to exploitation

Instead
of a Great Turning, we have its opposite –- a patriarchal
plutocracy — government fascism for the rich. One of the best
placards I have seen at a protest rally read, “The last time the
government cared about me, I was a fetus!”

The mission of
separation of church and state has drifted from not allowing the
state to dictate individual religious beliefs — to an abdication by
the state of humanitarian obligations: empathy, caring, morality and
honesty in its laws and policies. George HW Bush praised the charity
of the church (little points of light and hope) while his party
dismantled government funding for social programs.

Separation
of church and state has devolved into a destructive, artificial
division of functioning along gender stereotypes (Riane Eisler
introduced this in The
Chalice and the Blade)

•
The church
manifests the feminine: a model of empathy, spirituality and
morality, symbolized by the Earth Mother, nurturer of all life with
compassion and care, a maker of peace.

•
The state
identifies with the masculine: the epitome of power, practicality,
and action, symbolized by the hero warrior, strict father judge of
law and order. (But not provider/ protector for family. Why?)

•
Capitalism allies
with the masculine in big business -- the
military-industrial-financial-media complex –- to produce, make
money and profit, exploit resources, and dominate the world.

This
division is depicted on the cover of the order of service. When I
first looked at it, I was struck by how the artist read my mind
because he used the new digital logo of the UUA chalice to symbolize
UUs, and empathy. To me, it looked like a symbol of the feminine, as
well. Is it synchronicity that the new logo came out just as I was
writing this? Could there be a more fitting symbol for the power of
peace?

The
bags of money symbolize the money-driven materialism and greed of
unbridled capitalism. The money weighs in more heavily than empathy,
UU’s and all the other churches and points of light trying to help
humanity. There is an imbalance, so justice will never come out of
the “feminine” being separate and unequal to the “masculine.”
They have to balance each other.

What
can we do as UUs do? I have named the problems and possible
solutions:

•
All people should
strive for empathy as a mature strength, necessary for humans to
function, thrive, and flourish.

•
Give more weight
and value to feminine power. Home economics – - the production of
goods and services in the home –- should count in the

economy.
There needs to be a balance and sharing between the two.

•
Integrate
empathy, in business and government for greater social/ethical
responsibility Do not keep it separate or compartmentalized.

•
Open our minds to
empathize with our opposites. Try on their ideas. Discuss
differences. Recognize that staying in the circles of the liberal
mind can miss the protection of conservative boundaries that could
prevent bleeding our hearts and resources to death. For order and
balance, we should meet in the middle.

•
Put teeth into
Standing on the Side of Love, not just stand, but act. Hold officials
accountable to serve the people. Get involved. Demand integrity. Make
moral issues out of austerity policies, start class action legal
suits against legislators who endorse unequal protection of citizens.

•
Recognize and
reward empathy in people, especially in our leaders. Consider it an
essential dimension of emotional health for good

relationships,
marriage, intimacy, political leadership, or government office.

•
Live the UU
principles. Empathy and the capacity to love is on a higher level of
spiritual connection needed for a good life and good government.

•
Feed our own
empathy. Listen to others from the heart. Resonate with the negatives
they are experiencing. Validate their experience, share our own,
extend a hand. Facilitate their connections to help if necessary. Be
present with them. Empathy is what we do best.

Empathy
and connection to you as a community of friends who care and work
with me, beside me, and behind me sustains me through dark times, and
keeps me going. Thank you for fanning the embers of passion to keep
it alive.

Ignite
the Flame of Empathy,
a sermon delivered at 1stUUPB by Judy Kraft on June 22, 2014.